


from ruins reigns ash

by unagis



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Reader-Insert, Spoilers, like serious spoilers please play book iii before this thx
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 05:37:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19996738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unagis/pseuds/unagis
Summary: You find yourself at a familiar library with death at your heels.





	from ruins reigns ash

They told you specifically not to leave fortress once night fell. You didn't listen. 

There was one destination you had in mind, and it's been nagging at your conscience since the time you left. There were answers out there, things for you to discover. The Order couldn't expect you to sit complacent while they took care of everything for you. This was your fight as much as it was theirs. 

Despite the fact you weren't wearing shoes, your footsteps have never felt so loud as you padded along the crumbling marble floors of the other Askr's castle. It's the kind of unnerving silence that prickled at the end of every nerve and sent your heart on overdrive. The homely walls you've grown accustomed to have never felt so cold and detached. 

The library wasn't in any different state since you had last left it. The books—just barely held together and beginning to fall apart at the seams—lined the ancient shelves, and the musty smell of rot and death clung heavily to the air. But still, you willed your legs to move and push through your fear.

Moonlight filtered through the shattered windows, bathing the floor in white light. It's ethereal, in a way where it's both enchantingly beautiful and hauntingly sorrowful. You allowed your fingers to run down the spines of books that were worn well beyond their years. You felt as if each volume, each novel, held an incredible depth of history in them. Each book told of a lifetime. 

"How could this happen?" you whispered, breathless, to the silence that blanketed the entire place. 

Questions upon questions filled your mind, an endless chasm of things that will remain unanswered. And just as you get acquainted to the eerie silence, a voice sliced through like a blade. 

"What are you doing here?" 

You jolted, but given everything that's happened these past few days, you're not as scared or nervous as you should be. You peaked at the room from under your cloak. Your gaze searched for the one you knew would have the answers. When you spotted him, he stepped out from the shadows and into the light. 

"Líf," you greeted formally, not daring to move an inch from your spot. There was terror rooting you in your place, but there was also a fleeting hope that he wouldn't hurt you. Not now, at least. 

"Foolish," he hissed out. An almost mesmerizing hazy smoke curled from his mouthpiece and clouded the air around him. "You shouldn't be here."

Whether you were or weren't a fool didn't matter to you. Despite everything, you desired answers; you were so tired of sitting in the dark, so tired of letting fear dictate whether or not you would show up in the next battle. You were getting tired of running away from death. Líf hadn't shown any signs of open hostility yet, maybe you could try to reason with him. It was a gamble, but you were feeling just a little braver, a little more daring. 

"I know that," you mumbled, "I know that I shouldn't be here."

"Then why?" he pressed, taking a step forward while you took one back. "Why do you show yourself before me, Summoner?"

"Because I know who you are." It's your words that stopped him this time, and he halted, red eyes widening just slightly in disbelief. You didn't meet his eyes as you added, "And I think he knows too."

Even if Líf had that brief moment of weakness, he is quick to rebound. His eyes sharpened, and his words were cutting. "And, Summoner? How does that matter? How does _any_ of this matter now?"

"My name is Kiran," you asserted, "and I know you know that already."

You gauged his reaction carefully, and despite the loud erratic thumping that raged in your chest, the rest of you is deathly calm. His hand remained on the sheath of his sword—Fólkvangr, you recall Alfonse, your Alfonse, telling you about so fondly before, only it's not quite the same weapon it once was since the metal emanated with the cold promise of death. 

He didn't speak, so you decided to press on—carefully, calculating, cautious. "Why must we fight? For who do you fight so desperately for?"

"Leave," he commanded. It's not an invitation, it's an order. His hold on his sword tightened ever so slightly, but his hands were shaking. He's hesitant.

Why?

"No." You stubbornly shook your head with the statement. "You... the both of you are really the same. Refusing help, when you clearly need it. Pushing away others in fear of getting hurt further. You may not think you're the same as him, but the two of you share the same look in your eyes. Believe me, Líf... I would know."

"You don't know anything."

"Yes, I do!"

You didn't mean for your tone of voice to raise, you couldn't help it. Him and Alfonse were so alike, both remained unreasonable to reason. Maybe a part of you knew that already, but you pressed on regardless; you were always trying to save those who didn't want to be saved. "There's always going to be another way, the only question that remains is are you brave enough to take it?"

Your words hung in the air longer than the cold, but you had long grown numb to the frost. Líf said nothing, but after a while, he heaved a long and tired sigh. His hand relaxed, and it no longer rested on the hilt of his sword. 

"Leave now, Kiran," he responded at last, as an indescribable emotion lingered in his ruby eyes. "The next time we meet, I will not be as merciful." 

For once, you saw Líf for who he truly was besides Hel's pawn. He was a prince, a swordsman, a brother, a friend, and a man who was lost, all at once. The faintest twinge of sympathy twisted around in your gut, and you turned around to address him one last time before you left. 

"Hel will not keep her promise, Alfonse."

And the doors clicked softly shut behind you as you left the ruins of the library behind. 

**Author's Note:**

> count on the new book iii chapters to mess with my feelings


End file.
